Might as well JUMP? Might as well forget about amassing any pre-Xmas sales while you’re at it too – Activision has just dated Guitar Hero: Van Halen for December 22nd in the US. The fools...

Well, all the big Chrimbo games are usually released weeks earlier than that, aren’t they? And we’re guessing that this US street date will not apply to the UK, since the 22nd is a Wednesday and the nearest Friday (Friday’s being when UK games tend to be released) is Christmas Day itself. So it looks like an early 2010 release for us. Will you be able to wait that long to slither into your Spandex kecks?

The game itself features 25 songs by Van Halen and a further 19 by other bands, including the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D, Foo Fighters and others equally unrelated. Good luck with your efforts to keep up with guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s screeching soloings too – he was among the foremost axe heroes in his time, and we suspect he could still show today’s young ‘uns a thing or two. More worrying, he plays without seeming to expend the slightest effort and with the widest, cheese-eating grin on the planet. You’ve got to copy his expression or the game doesn’t work properly.

Anyway, here’s that tracklist. We’re assured that VH’s contributions represent the cream of their output. We recognised maybe three of ‘em. Honest:

Van Halen
"Ain't Talkin Bout Love"
"And the Cradle Will Rock"
"Atomic Punk"
"Beautiful Girls"
"Dance the Night Away"
"Everybody Wants Some"
"Feel Your Love Tonight"
"Hang 'Em High"
"Hear About it Later"
"Hot for Teacher"
"Ice Cream Man"
"I'm the One"
"Jamie's Cryin"
"Jump"
"Little Guitars"
"Loss of Control"
"Mean Street"
"Panama"
"Pretty Woman"
"Romeo Delight"
"Running with the Devil"
"So This is Love"
"Somebody Get Me a Doctor"
"Unchained"
"You Really Got Me"

>b>Eddie Van Halen solos
"Cathedral"
"Eruption"
"Spanish Fly"

Other bands
Alter Bridge - "Come to Life"
Billy Idol - "White Wedding"
blink-182 - "First Date"
Deep Purple - "Space Truckin"
Foo Fighters - "Best Of You"
Foreigner - "Double Vision"
Fountains of Wayne - "Stacy's Mom"
Jimmy Eat World - "Pain"
Judas Priest - "Painkiller"
Killswitch Engage - "The End of Heartache"
Lenny Kravitz - "Rock and Roll is Dead"
Queen - "I Want it All"
Queens of the Stone Age - "Sick, Sick, Sick"
Tenacious D - "Master Exploder"
The Clash - "Safe European Home"
The Offspring - "Pretty Fly For a White Guy"
Third Eye Blind - "Semi-Charmed Life"
Weezer - "Dope Nose"
Yellowcard - "The Takedown"